>>they're explaining that they have 5,000 members in their group and they carry weapons such as ak-47s, rpgs, what else did you say? >>mortars, bombs. (mariana) mends true numbers and strength are open to question. and since this video was shot, the line between the politically motivated groups and criminal elements has become increasingly blurred. and mend, itself, seems divided with some factions calling for peace talks with the new elected government of nigeria and others refusing to sign on. in an email exchange i had with mend's shadowy leader jomo gbomo, this is what

he had to say... "we hope to eventually destroy the capacity of nigeria to export crude oil from the niger delta. i think the niger delta will soon descend into a full-blown war, which will last several years." [ music ] >> bill: hey, good morning, everybody. what do you say? welcome to the "full-court press," here on wednesday, wednesday, february 6th. good to see you today.

we are coming to you live coast to coast on current tv. good to have you with us. we look forward to taking your calls at 866-55-press. >> that's our toll-free number. i was there in the whiter house briefing room yesterday when president obama came out and called on congress to take action to avoid those massive cuts to pentagon spending known as the sequester which kick in march 1st. if march can't pass a big bill, they ought to pass a small bill to delay the sequester for a few more months. house republicans led by john boehner immediately said no way. here we go again. the party of no opposing anything obama wants. we will tell you about that. also tell you the latest on drones and a lot more here on the full court press. but first, let's get the latest. lisa ferguson is here. well, she is not here. she is in los angeles with today's current news update. hi, lisa. good morning. >> close enough.

los angeles, d.c. good morning, everyone. the president is in annapolis today after 10:00 this morning and atends the conference at the western annapolis hotel. vice president biden is swearing in john kerry as secretary at state from the state department and then later this evening, he is speaking at the house democratic issues conference in leesberg virginia. he will lay out a renewed plan for combatting climate change. forces say it will likely include a few executive steps like using presidential authority to curb emissions from existing power plants. it's something the president promised during his inaugural address last month. it fits in with what appears to be to use ex i can you've been authority. the epa is putting together a plan to regulate new power plants, but the president will

likely call to take that one step further and tackle coal plants already in existence. obama is calling on congress as bill mentioned earlier, to quickly pass a package of spending cuts and tax increases in an effort to head off a new round of military cuts kicking in march 1st. the president wants congress to delay those cuts for at least another few months while republicans are so far dismissing his appeals for new revenue. more bill is up next.

[ music ] >> broadcasting across the nation, on your radio and on current tv this is "the bill press show." >> bill: president obama says the sequester is looming. congress better get busy and fix

the damn thing. hello, everybody. what do you say? it is wednesday, wednesday, february 6th. this is the full court press on your local t.v. your progressive talk radio station and on sirius xm. thank you for joining us on a brings news day. lots of big stories particularly here in washington yesterday. most of the talk was about the department of justice white paper on drones which where we started our show yesterday. we were the first ones to talk about it. it dominated the news and the white house briefing. we will talk about that. the ravens had a big party up in baltimore yesterday. we had our team member phil bachus representing us. we have it covered, damn it.

i am at the whitehouse and phil is at the raven stadium. >> covered at both ends >> bill: we are there. we are there. great to see you today. give us a call at 866-55-press. and we will put as many of you -- we will get to as many of you see as we can to talk to make your points on the air to your fellow "full-court press"ers. also follow us on twitter @bp show. peter ogburn will follow you on twitter and at facebook.com/billpressshow. here we go, the whole team peter ogburn and dan henning leading us off. hello guys. >> good morning. >> happy wednesday. >> phil back from the ravens stadium and cyprian boulding extraordinaryair. >> current came. >> i guess that's what with ought to call it the current cam for now at any rate.

right? >> we are here for you for now. >> until it becomes that other cam,als al-jeezera. >> do you now work for al-jeezera. >> as long as it's current tv. >> by the way, speaking about -- now, this is one thing that's never happened to me because sip ran knows what he is doing. obviously yesterday, very funny at the press briefing yesterday, we were told mid-morning yesterday that president obama was actually going to come to the briefing room at 1:15 and make a statement. we weren't sure what it was about. it turned out to be about the sequester. so, the room was pretty backed. there were more cameras than usual. and the president is right in the middle of making his message to congress. we've got to do something to prevent the sequester, and if he

can't do the big job and fix it, then do a little job and at least delay it for a few months so all of these people won't lose their jobs. and the pentagon will be able to get its checks out to members of the military and their families around the world. so, right in the middle of the president's pitch, one of the cameras -- i guess it turned out maybe it was the radio. something. something went wrong with the camera and it started making this really, really loud noise. the president actually he laughed. he laughed. but he was also not happy to be interrupted. here is how that sounded. >> these reforms would reduce our government's bill. >> what's up,camman cameraman? come on, guys. breaking my flow all the time. you can hear that little laugh of his. >> breaking my flow. >> breaking my flow. what are you doing here?

he had a great big grin on his face but the cameraman was so embarrassed. so he got it under control and the president continued. and there were no more blow-ups. usually, you hear the clicks. if the president moves his hands, that's got to be the shot and suddenly there are a thousand catholics. but this was the camera clearly that had gone out of control. i don't know what happened. the motor was like whirring. whirring? >> whirring-h-i-r-r-i-n-gw-h-i-r-r-i-n-g. >> that's what it was doing. >> i have seen that word. i don't think i have spoken that word. >> all right. >> we all agree with you here today. here we go with a lot to cover today. eliot spits eliot spits er from buzzfeed feed, from the new republic and politico just for starters and yes, the focus, most of it yesterday at the briefing on: what is our policy related to

drones drones. who decides those questions? up, but first: >> this is the full court press. >> something you need to know as you head out the door newark new jersey mayor told the hill maybe one day about ben and jerry might name a flavor after him. they are considering smart cookie, he is well educated. or mayor seven layer cake because he is a complex man or public servant, which they say would be filled with pecans and cash ews because the mayor's job is simply nuts. no word when these may come to fruition. >> bill: i don't know that they will ever call him senator booker. >> yeah. >> banned from eating competitions, you can book competitive eater takaro

takaro kukushioti. he ate an entire pizza in front of a crowd in one minute. >> that's officially faster than the world record of 1 minute and 9 seconds of eating a large pizza. he was paid $3,200 for his appearance. >> bill: can you imagine. >> my, how the mighty have fallen. >> having a party on the your house and, we have some entertainment. >> yeah. >> for our children's birthday party, last year we had a puppet show. this year, we've got -- kuboachi. >> he ate it at a minute. >> he hung out for the rest -- hung out for the whole game. >> that's gross. fifty hot dogs for your fans and throw up. >> like having a clown come to your birthday party. >> bill: >> it's a little different >> bill: different. >> a celebration in baltimore

maryland for the ravens yesterday, washington post reporting over 200,000 people packed city streets from the city hall to m and t bank. coach and ed reed were there. ed reed singing a little. >> ravens celebrating. they had every right to sell brate. >> b 'more super ball champs. >> a special crap game. >> oh, yeah. oh, sure. >> bill: yesterday at the briefing, i have to tell you it was pretty intense overs the drones. we started talking about this yesterday when the news broke about this department of justice white paper. the timing is very significant because tomorrow is the confirmation hearing for john brennan, the president's nominee, a good man, to be the next director of the cia.

and brennan is known at the whitehouse, among other things, former deputy at cia, for being the architect of america's drone policy. he is the one who decides when drones are used and who they are targeted and what american citizens might be targeted. this is bound to come up. several senators have already told me they are going to craze this question with john brennan and publicly said so. and just at the time they are preparing for this hearing this white paper, this was written by department of justice, for members of congress and sent to them last summer but for some reason, it never -- nobody ever leaked it until this week. we still don't know who leaked it. but this paper is pretty chilling. the paper is an unclassified document. so there is no breach of national security here and it's

a department of justice explaining why they think the use of drones to kill american citizens on foreign soil is just justified justified. and they say it is -- it's justified under the blanket authorization to conduct a war on terror that congress gave george bush after september 11th, so that that law, they say, is still in place, still gives the president complete authority to use drones. and they say the drones would be used to kill an american citizen if there are three conditions met: one, that the -- this american citizen is believed to be a member of a terrorist organization like al-qaeda or affiliated. two, that that citizen, american citizen, is in an imminent threat to the united states and, three, that it's infeasible to capture that particular american

citizen. now, who makes the decision is the real question. right now, what this memo says -- by the way, here it is. it's 16 pages. i got it. i've read it. it says, who makes the decision is, quote, an informed, high-level official of the u.s. government, which doesn't tell us much. who is that? is that the secretary of defense? is it the cia director? is it the national security advisor? is it the president of the united states? the vice president? we don't know. so this topic really dominated the briefing yesterday. jay carney insisted on every level, we are doing the right thing. >> we have acknowledged to the united states that sometimes we use remotely piloted aircraft to conduct targeted al-qaeda terrorists in order to present attacks on the united states and

save american lives. we couple conduct those strikes because they are necessary to mitigate ongoing threats t and save american lives. these strikes are legal. they are ethical and they are wise. >> legal, ethical and wise and jay carney says here is the legal authority we are talking about. >> also takes his responsibility in conducting the war against al-qaeda as authorized by congress in a way that is fully consistent with our constitution and all of the applicable laws. >> bill: of course, he is talking about that blanket authorization for the war on terror, given to george w. bush by congress right after september 11th. it's worth pointing out, this is the same blanket authorization that george bush used to justify torture, rendition, and wiretapping, domestic wiretapping of american citizens.

actions that many democrats and many progressives myself included said was an abuse of his authority at the time that that blanket authorization didn't give him the right to do anything and everything, didn't give him the right to torture, didn't give him the right to tap our phones, didn't give him the right to send people to foreign countries to be held and tortured without any trial, without due process. but now, the obama administration is using that same authorizeation, that same justification to -- the same authorization, rather, to justify the use of drones. the aclu among others, has raised questions about this. chamcy is the spokesperson for the aclu. >> essentially claimed that the executive branch can be judge, jury and executioner in cle declaring american citizens and targeting them for killing far from any battlefield

>> bill: so that is the problem. i mean, it seems to me that we are really saying yeah, the president can be -- well put, judge, jury and executioner. due process? there is no more. due process is out the window. there is no need to prove in a court of law, no judge is involved here at all. no jury is involved here at all. that person is guilty. this high-level informed high-level official of the united states decides that that person is guilty and we just send a drone in to whack 'em. i don't know about you. this is scary stuff. this will raises a lot of serious questions. i think we have got to be as tough asking these questions of the obama administration about drones as we were asking the bush administration about torture and about rendition, and what i want to know more than anything else is: who is the informed high-level official of the u.s. government who makes these decisions? again, who is it? is it leon panetta?

is it the head of the cia, whoever the acting head is right now? is it john brennan as the national security advisor? is it president obama? i mean is it jay carney? we don't know. we don't know who at the whitehouse is making these decisions. >> that's what makes us different is we ask these questions of our president that we fought for. >> yeah. >> these are real questions that should be answered. >> bill: it's. what do you think? 866-55-press. i am there is -- i am not totally against drones. i am just saying we have to know what the rules are and who is pushing the button. we will be right back. >> heard around the country, and seen on current tv this is "the bill press show" t [ music ] his ability, is trying to look out for us. that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets

that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

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>> this is "the bill press show." >> 25 minutes after the hour. should the united states be conducting drone warfare around the world and should the united states be killing american citizens whom they suspect of being involved in a terrorist organization on foreign soil without any trial, would youithout any due process, with the president playing judge jury, judge, and executioner. it's hard to get numbers on how many people have been killed. my column last may on this issue, i quoted in my column the new america foundation survey that are looking at pakistan between 1785, 1,785 and 2,771 individuals have been killed in pakistan by remote controlled

drones, of whom 1, -- 1,492 and 2,300 were militants. in other words, the non-militant or civilian deaths or collateral deaths were 17%. >> that's pretty high. 17% collateral including 174 children. what do you say then? oops? >> i mean at some point, you have to ask yourself: what's the threshold here? what is the acceptable amount of collateral damage, as we are calling it, for this to be worth it? i mean we have killed a lot of kids. >> bill: not to mention the blow-back in these countries from the use of these drones. these things are circling overhead for maybe a month before they finally, hit. >> people talking about this on twitter @bp show. mama for obama says an informed high level official is president obama and you know it. don't act as if that's not the

case. what we do not know t that's also echoed by damien cash who says that informed government official is defined as many different people. >> bill: if it is the president, i think we have got a right to know it. if the president is giving the orders to kill these americans i think that's, you know, that's pretty significant. >> a big deal. >> john calling from eureka springs, arkansas. >> thank you for taking my call. i am not nervous. i am just angry, and it's hard to remain civil when you are an angry american as me. >> bill: go for it. >> i am a veteran. i served during the vietnam era, but my point is this: what constitutional or bill of rights -- and yet the paradigm we keep fussing under is this dualopathy of the two parties. we are paying them extreme amounts of money and there is no political accountability. i think i am so against the drones, i don't know where to begin. but when you start blowoiling

things down what's american's definition of "insanity" because we keep repeating the same thing by reelecting the same incumbents. >> bill: john, those are all good questions and i think, again, we are not saying never, never, never. but we are saying, you know, what are the rules that apply here? should we really be doing it? >> this is "the bill press show." armed with the facts, and the arguments to feel confident in their positions. i want them to have the data and i want them to have the passion. but it's also about telling them, you're put on this planet for something more. i want this show to have an impact beyond just informing. an impact that gets people to take action themselves. as a human being, that's really important. this is not just a spectator sport.

[ music ] >> chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is "the bill press show" live on your radio and current tv >> bill: 33 minutes after the hour on a wednesday,

february 6th. it is a full court press coming to you live from our nation's capitol here and brought to you today by the enternational brother harry reidhood of teamsters, the good men and women under president jim hoffa. we all live better because of their good work. find out more about their good work at teamster.org. yes, indeed, we are talking about the big flack and all of the questions being raised over the use of drones in light of a leaked document written by the department of justice sent to members of congress which justifies the use of drones to kill american citizens on foreign soil without a trial, without any due process setting the president up basically to be judge and jury and executioner. is that the best policy for the united states? is that really justified? what's the difference between doing that and george bush practicing torture

waterboarding, rendition, and illegal wiretapping? all of those questions we want to hear from you at 866-55-press. on the other hand, a lot of you said yesterday, it's true. it's better than putting boots on the ground. shouldn't there be some limits and guidelines? back to tour comments on that and more information about it in just a second. but first, looking at the end defendant month which just passed and trying to pay those january bills and having a hard time? maybe you are looking for some extra money that you can make from home to supplement your income. here is the ticket: income at home.com. they are america's leading work from home business, doing business in over 80 countries today. they got it down and they can easily give you this opportunity no matter your age, education, or experience. you can literally earn money with your own computer using your own laptop on your own kitchen table 24/7. you ought to check it out if you

are sick of living paycheck to paycheck worried about job security or retirement. if your goal has been to earn extra money at home part-time or full-time, that website again, income@home.com. they are giving away a thousand bucks to somebody just for checking them out. visit incomeathome.com. >> that's incomeathome.com. a couple of little points before we go to the phone: we are also targeting people in yemen. so so far as we know these drone strikes have been mainly so far, some in afghanistan, mainly be in pakistan and then in yemen as well. the "new york times" reporting this morning about a case where a clearic, muslim clearic, goes into his mosque and gives a talk[delete]cleric, muslim [delete]cleric, goes into his mosque and gives a talk criticizing al-qaeda saying these people are not good for us. we should not be members of

al-qaeda. he gets a visit from three members. he steps outside with his cousin and these three guys, like he is on our side to talk to these three guys. they are standing under a tree. all five are blown away by a drone. we have the three low-level of al-qaeda members and we also got a guy, a clearric, the sort of people we want to be telling yemen, al-qaeda is bad news. what are we doing here? >> that's a pretty powerful force we had on our side that's. >> that's if for us. when we kill five people in one drone attack. >> two of them on our side. >> you have to call into question how we are doing business with this >> bill: also got a copy of a letter yesterday, members of congress are now speaking out on this, again, with john brennan's hearing coming up tomorrow, this litter signed by ranking members

of the senate judiciary committee k pat leahy and chuck grassly dick durbin and mark ladish, geoff america lee al franken, susan collins all signing this letter to the president saying please release all of the memos secret memos that the justice department has written to the white house, not publicly but let the senators see the secret memos not just this white paper, which was leaked which was unclassified but the secret classified memos that give more detail about what legal authorization there is for the use of drones. let's go back to peter. do you have anything for us there? >> we are taking your comments. >> ce. >> on twitter @bp show. >> is it breathing standing closely to people on foreign soil with funny names?

fred wilder says drones are the latest panacea for power-hungry government officials to use deadly force to get their way. we are on twitter @bpshow. >> we heard the same arguments from george bush to justify, again, torture and rendition and wiretapping. and we demanded to see that those legal memos from the justice department. even president obama when he was a candidate said those memos ought to be released. now, we hear the same justification from the obama administration for the use of drones for killing -- not just killing all of these other people, but killing american citizens overseas. we hear the same justification based upon the same congressional authorization and they refuse to release the memos. so there is at least at

contradiction in the obama administration and serious questions. norm is in boca raton, florida. thank you for joining us? >> how are you doing? >> bill: thank you. >> caller: i had an gee and i agree with most of what you guys are saying. i watch you all the time. i think the way you think. >> bill: appreciate that >> caller: it seems like that happens all the time. i don't know how to correct something like that. for example, you know, you have friends that are involved in some illegal activity of some sort. you are over there at their house, hanging out, having a good time. all of the sudden the police raid the place. there is a gun battle and you get killed. things like this happen all the time. how do you evaluate, especially from a drone that this guy is an innocent and this guy is not which when things happen that create, you know, a lethal situation. i don't know how you -- how you prevent that from happening. >> bill: no, but it's important to do as much as we can to prevent it from happening.

i mean we have seen stories of wedding parties. right? that have been blown away and dozens of people killed. obviously, somebody, you know made a bad judgment in that particular drone strike. >> that's -- those are all of the questions, normal, that we -- at that we don't know. i mean, i would have to say if you've got a whole group of al-qaeda leaders a meeting in some hall somewhere and i were making the decision i would probably say, yeah blow them away even though there might be some, say, servers or cooks or something that are going to get killed at the same time. >> that's what warfare, unfortunately, is all about. but, right now we don't know what the guidelines are. and then, to make it even more trouble some, we are talking about killing american citizens. right? who under the constitution do have a right to a trial and due process. so to throw that out the window you've got to really know, you have to really be on solid ground.

i appreciate your call, but listen, norm, i thank you for checking in. valentine's day is coming up. i have something special for you. hold on, on the line. phil will get your information. we want to send you a $50 pro-flowers gift card that you can use for this valentine's day and, of course for all of you the rest of you looking for in regards goes to pro-flowers.com. click on that microphone in the upper right-hand corner, type in my name, press" and get great deals from pro-flowers. thanks, norm. here is don calling from albany oregon, on the west coast. what's up? >> caller: i was going to say i can see those drones only as an absolute last resort. it's proper due process. really, it's impossible, but it still seems just plain wrong to me somehow. >> bill: the last part, we can do this if they determine that capture is infeasible.

now, so what does that mean? right? does it mean it would cost too much? >> caller: i honestly don't know. >> bill: or it would be too dangerous, or we would need to send too many guys? >> caller: all of the above. who knows? >> bill: right. >> caller: this is true. we don't know. >> bill: again, i keep coming back to we don't know who is making the decision either. how high up the food chain does it go? we have a right to know. our constitution gives every american citizens, guarantees due processes to every american citizen. you can't just be accused of something and executed summarily on the spot by any government official in this country. now, the justice department says we can do that if you are on foreign soil. >> one quick comment to throw in from someone on twitter that goes by the handle nrahater.

we should address george w. bush for starting all of this. >> he got away with this and now president obama is using drones under the same authority at least. i am not saying we ought to arrest him. i am saying, we ought to be asking the kind of tough questions that we are asking today. and that reporters were asking yesterday at the whitehouse press briefing. you know, i bet you who will has a good take on this. eliot spitzer. we will talk to him neck on the "full-court press." >> on your radio and on current tv this is "the bill press show." [ music ] the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv

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>> radio meets television "the bill press show" now on current tv. >> bill: here we go 13 minutes before the top of the hour on a wednesday morning, february 6th. the full court press coming to you live from our nation's capitol. a lot of news, a lot of big issues dealing with gun violence and now with the drone policy and almost lost is the department of justice filing a suit against the standard and poor's rating agency. a lot going on. we wanted to check in with our good friend, he will jot spitzer. >> good morning, etliot. before we get to the news of the day, i have to ask you your comments on one of the most colorful and it may be most effective politicians we have seen in our lifetime, buried this week, ed koch. i know you knew him well?

>> knew him as any new yorker did, as a voter and a citizen first because he was older than me. so i watched him as mayor when i was a kid, quite frankly and marvelled at his ability to be pugnacious, charming, in your face and loveable and once and that was a very quixotic combination that made him popular and unpopular. he was voted out at the end but over the succeeding 20-plus years since he has been mayor, people came back to love him because he was in a way that quintssential combination of new york's characteristic and aggressive, charming laughter fun, and volatile. >> bill: not always easy to get along with. pretty e ras erascible. >> land use is one of those things people don't talk about a lot, not like crime that grips you, rezoning doesn't grab the heart strings but he did, time

square came back and everybody said rudy did it because of crime. the reality is time skiver came back because ed koch got it rezoned to and the theatres came back. he was transformative and became a good friend. we did a t.v. show together the last six and seven months and he was just wisdom. he always had an opinion. he was a politician. he was great. >> bill: we won't see another one like him. >> no >> bill: maybe ever. i was struck by the news yesterday that the department of justice went after wall street for him -- a wall street firm since the crash of 2008 and not one of the big banks but standard & poor's. what is that about? >> this is important. s & p was the gatekeeper for the junk debt. they put the stamp of approval. like the consumer's union stamp

of approval. it's safe. it's good. when you read the internal e-mails. this has been an open secret on wall street. everybody knew they were putting the stamp on it when it wasn't good. why? because they got fees. the same inherent con that went back to analysts this is the radio of the problem on wall street. fees that are being paid to buy the integrity and debase the integ transit integrity of an itstitution to pay for quality. all of the banks issued and we the consumers, ended up buying this debt that ended up metastsizing and going back. the e-mails, if you read the complaints -- not many people will. i kind of thumbed through it. the internal documents are not surprisingly revealing where they say, gee, guys if we weren't wired about market share and profits, we would probably be doing things different, telling the truth. so it's at one level the same story and, another level, it is finely about time justice did something, give them credit for

making a case. you know, some people are going to say it should have been criminal. put that aside for a moment. it's five years too late. >> that's true. at least something is being done. it's an important case. it's a good case. the complaint is well done, and it's something people should read because they will once again, get a window into what goes on down there >> bill: do you think they will continue and go after some of the institutions that were pedalling these worthless securities? >> i hope so because the same sort of internal documents that are laid out in the complaints against s & p were there at all of the banks. >> bill: yeah. >> who knew this stuff was metastsizing. for those of us who have been screaming for years saying bring the case, it's not as though the e-mails have been hidden away in some tutenkamen's tomb. i am om one level con conflicted. i don't want to go hard on justice, you know. you want to give them a little bit of candy and say, nice job.

the other hand there is the sense: where have you been? but okay. >> bill: where have you been and don't stop. don't stop here? >> that's right. >> bill: i have to ask you about a lot of questions being asked with john brennan's confirmation hearing coming up tomorrow about the use of droughns? >> yes. >> bill: the obama administration saying we have full authority to kill american citizens with drones overseas under the same authorization that george bush was given after september 11th. >> here is my preprediction, no party is ever going to give away that power. when you are sitting in the oval office, suddenly the world view is different. what is is said during campaigns, this is now going to be up to the courts, i think at the end of the day, to ask the very hard question. this is where the courts have to step in and say what does due processes mean? i mean i don't want to try to get too philosophical, but war has gone from being soldiers in trenches facing off where you could have a congressional declaration of war because we

knew what war was and we knew what congressional enactments were to this sort of, from-the-sky stuff where you push a button and somebody is taken out. >> lie a video game. >> they sit in kansas and move the knobs back and forth and launch drones. somewhere between that the abdication of power betweenof when we are at war and who is on the other side has to be parsed. it's a difficult, complicated issue, as the white house would you say, guys imminent threat, which is the phrases they were using over and over again yesterday and somebody says, is that a continuing threat? in other words, these sound like metaphysical differences. they are important. the courts at the end of the day have to pars it. i guess at the end of the day did he ever to the executives because no judge is going to be willing to say, i will preclude the president from proelthing the country. so in the area of increasing executive power whether we like it or not. >> bill: it was a testy press briefing today. i am sure there is going to be another one today.

eliot spitzer, always good to check in with you. thank you for being there with us? >> thank you. >> bill: he willeliot spitzer, former governor of new york and former host on current t.v. >> this is "the bill press show." [ music ] now find the most hard core driver in america. that guy, put him in it. what's this? [ male announcer ] tell him he's about to find out. you're about to find out. [ male announcer ] test it. highlight the european chassis 6 speed manual, dual exhaust wide stance, clean lines have him floor it, spin it punch it, drift it put it through its paces is he happy? oh ya, he's happy! [ male announcer ] and that's how you test your car for fun. easy.

i i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of

his ability, is trying to look out for us. [ music ] >> taking your e-mails on any topic at any time, this is "the bill press show" live on your radio and current tv. >> ben smith is the editor and achiever of buzzfeed conducted a very lively interview with senator marco rubio will be here in the next hour to tell us all about it. meanwhile, on drones richard maxwell e-mails in, bill, you are right. the american people have a right

to know about drones who pushes the buttons, et cetera. watch the republicans go to town on this one, though. they are accusing president obama of hypocracy because he criticized george bush and now he is using the same bill. you know, i just think no matter who the president is, we the american people, have a right to know what the policy is. >> this is "the bill press show."

>> coming up with a big plan to fix the problem, a small plan to deliver the sequester and john boehner and house republicans immediately said no way, they were not going to cooperate with the president. here we go again, the party of "no." that and a whole lot more this next hour of the "full-court press," but first, got to get the latest. she's got it.

today's currents news update from lisa ferguson joining us from our studios in los angeles. hi, lisa. good morning. >> hey, bill. good morning everyone. breaking news from tunisia this morning, more than 1 protesters have filled the streets in front of the interior ministry in the wake of the opposition leader. shot outside his home wednesday morning. he had recently formed a coalition of the communist governor of tune easetunisia. he had a backing of support and people are filling the streets shouting shame and the government should fail. two years ago, tunisia was the first country to overthrow its leader marking the start of the arab spring. the president is facing tough questions on drones after a leaked secret memo described using them to kill u.s.

citizens. the paperif there is no specific informing about that attack. in reality, most of this information is already public as of last year. but many find it disturbing especially considering there is not much legal justification for using drones against american citizens. this now complicates the hearing of john brennan for confirmation as director of the cia. we are right back. (vo) this afternoon, current tv is the place for compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current.

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>> broadcasting across the nation, on your radio and on current tv this is "the bill press show". >> the white house insists the use of drones is legal, ethical

and wise. >> that's what jay carney told us yesterday. oh yeah? lots of questions about that. good morning, everybody. what do you say? here we go. our hour number 2 of the full court press, this tuesday,wednesday, february 6th. if you want to be a part of the program, as we talked talk about the news of the day here from our nation's capitol, here around the country and here around the globe, if you really want to get into it, give us a call at 866-55-press. >> that's your ol' free number. you can also join us on twitter. we invite your comments on twitter always, always at al times @bp show and facebook.com/billpressshow. the chat room is in effect. as long as there is a current it willt t.v. there will be a

current tv chat room. if you click chat room, you are in with your other "full-court press"ers around the land to debate the issues online as we are debating them on the air. here to serve you today and keep the old ship afloat, team press, peter ogburn and dan henning. >> yes, sir. good morning. >> bill: taking care of things peter following social media and dan running the board. phil backert has the phones and cyprian boulding is keeping us olbermann on camera as good as we can look. how about it? yesterday, it was a big day for baltimore, the ravens come home from new orleans and their super bowl championship. they greeted the -- they were greeted by over 200,000 people in the streets of baltimore and in the reins stadium. i forget the name of that stadium. >> m & t bank stadium. it's weird.

m & t bank. mm & t. >> okay. raise the green flag. i hate naming stadiums anyhow. ravens stadium. >> after a big company. >> i do, too. it's ravens stadium and the coach, john harbaugh says we want you to remember. we want everybody to know who we are. >> we are going to let the world know that we are the ravens >> bill: 0, the ravens. >> what's our name? >> ravens! >> what's our name? >> ravens! >> what's our name? >> ravens >> they were going crazy in here. >> i thought i heard phil backert's voice in here. >> i thought i heard phil >> bill: everybody got into it. ray lewis spoke and ed read he didn't exactly speak. but -- he tried out for american idol. >> two tickets to paradise

♪ thank you, baby. ♪ oooh! ♪ >> two tickets to paradise. ♪ >> whoa. whoa. whoa. keep it on the field, ed. you know what i mean? >>. >> little pitchy there. >> lots coming up. buzz feed, ben smith is the editor-in-chief, conducting an interesting interview with marco rubio. he will be here to tell us all about it a little later in the hour and next hour, we will talk to reporters from the new republic and from politico. wanda summers and tim noah from the new republic. yes, the united kingdom showed the way yesterday. how to do it on same-sex marriage. >> but first, this is the full

court press. >> other headlines you need to know as you head out the door congressman joe courtney who was on our show yesterday is calling out steven spiels berg for a historical inaccuracy sending the director a letter about the scene in the film where they are voting to abolish slavery. two of the three members of the connecticut delegation in the movie vote to uphold slavery. courtney couldn't believe it when he saw it. so he did some research and cond firmed entire the entire connecticut connecticut delegation voted to abolish it. he hopes somehow it can be corrected in the movie before it goes to dvd >> bill: how did they get that wrong? >> how do you mess that up? >> he says he has no problem with movies taking some liberties. you but this is a historical vote. you can't have that historical inaccuracy. >> a movie like this. >> that's a simple fact. like we know that there are tales and stories surrounding

abraham lincoln but a simple fact, they should have gotten right. >> bill: the way they portrayed him. >> that's all the facts have to be straight. good for joe although i am pretty pissed that the congressman was sitting right there yesterday and he didn't tell us that. he. >> did you see "lincoln." >> yeah . i loved it. >> even the mayor of chicago has to do his civic duty mayor rahm emanuel showing up for jury duty sat and waited with the other jurors, waiting to be called. nbc said he made it so far as to watch the how to be a areare video but was dismissed because more than enough people showed up for the day. he donated the $17 he was paid back to the county courts. >> bill: you know, i show up for jury duped. you should, too. >> can you imagine? >> if he got on a jury? >> him on a jury. >> the judge would have to say, watch your language, mr. mayor?

>> contempt of court, juror number 7. >> plans are starting to come together for next year's first cold weather bowl in new york and there may be no plans for a half-time show. the new york post is reporting some sources saying they may not do any sort of traditional super bowl halftime spectacle because the cold weather conditions may prevent putting on such a big show in such a short period of time. >> no half-time show? >> is what the new york post is reporting based upon quote, unquote sources. so the nfl immediately came out saying that is report is not true. there will be a half-time show but it's a year away. >> i have to say, i am less and less sure putting the game in new york. >> it's brilliant. it's a cold-weather game. >> when you are talking about the biggest sporting event, we do, the biggest t.v. event that

we do, i would want to have control over as many things as possible because it's not about the game any more, the super bowl. it's just not about the game. sure, it's a cold-weather game but it's not about the game >> bill: i have an easier solution. i say get rid of the game and have a half-time show and commercial did. >> okay. that's all i am interested in. i am not alone either. >> a lot of people would agree with you. they don't watch the game at all. >> fourteen minutes after the hour here on this wednesday morning, you know, sometimes i think as americans, i believe america first, love my country. i think we are the greatest country on the planet. i. proud to be an american happy to be an american. i am grateful that i was born an

american. sometimes other countries do things a little better than we do. in the house of commons yesterday, on same-sex marriage for the u.k. and for wales. now, on this issue, we have made a phenomenal amount of progress in this country. got to admit that. right? this five years ago, i mean state after state after state after state was amending their constitution to prevent same-sex marriage. there was -- maybe you could count on one hand the democrats, democratic politicians who would even stand up and support it. last year, after a lot of e evolving on this issue, a lot of

prayer, they supported same-sex marriage across the board. we have seen nine states, connecticut, iowa maine, maryland massachusetts, new hampshire and washington state support same-sex marriage. there are efforts underway in probably another dozen states of rhode island very close. the assembly has approved it there but the state senate has yet. and the district of columbia that have recognized and supported same-sex marriage but there are nine states for it and something like 30 states that have constitutional prohibitions against same-sex marriage. even the president, when he came out and in support of it said

this should be decided on a state-by-state-by-state basis, which means it will be decades before some states if ever come around and endorse the right of americans, all americans, to enjoy the same right that other fellow americans enjoy. when we get rid of discrimination against laygays and lesbian s because that happens to be their sexual orientation. it was totally different in the u.k. yesterday. big debate in the house of commons. many, many speakers. let's listen to mike frier. he is a began man who says when people criticize him and his fellow members of the lgbt community for wanting to get married, it really hurts.

>> so when colleagues talked about gay marriage making them physically sick or when colleagues suggested it was a step towards legalizing polygamy. >> give way. >> i won't. they need to remember that there are people involved. people's lives are involved and we should remember that the words spoken in this chamber hurts far beyond this chamber when we speak. >> bill: good point and mike frier goes on to say, all we are asking is to be treated the same as everybody else. mr. deputy speaker, i am not asking for special treatment. i am simply asking for equal treatment. >> here. >> speaker, people talked about % and division on the heat of the debate but sometimes leadership is about doing what is right, not what it popular. and i congrat late the prime

minister on leading this. >> david cameron did lead on this. when the vote was taken -- again, this is to do it nationwide. right? not town by town, not county by county. not state by state. tackle the issue and do the right thing, nationwide final vote. >> order. order. the ayes to the right, 400. the nays to the left 175. so the ayes have it. the ayes have it. a lock. >> there it is. wasn't even close. the entire nation of the u.k. and wales recognizing like that same-sex marriage didn't have to take years and years and years and years or state by

state our county by county. they just did it. why does it have to be so cyst here? why is it that the minority rules here? if we brought it up they would filibuster it. right? it's so backwards. the opponents say, there is too much divorce, people aren't taking marriage seriously. here, you have another group of people who say we want marriage. we respect marriage. we want this institution. we want to embrace it. and those idiots instead of opening the door to them, they want to slam the door shut. it just makes no sense at all.

think about what would happen if we had that debate in this country among our elected leaders. it would be turned into such a circus and such an ordeal. you look at how british parliament did it and an overwhelming vote. >> 400 to 175. >> overwhelming vote. >> but we wouldn't even have the debate here in the first place. getting this in front of the congress, nobody has the balls to bring it up. again, if we did those jerks, republicans, some jerk republicans would filibuster it. it would never get to a vote. so i want positive point out we have a long way to go on some issues. the u.k. on this one showed the way. what do you think? 866-55-press. why is it so difficult for us and so easy for the uk? same issues. >> this is "the bill press show." [ music ]

converstion started next. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

shoes >> this is "the bill press show," live on your radio and current tv >> bill: 25 minutes after the hour ben smith editor-in-chief for buzz feed will be here in studio with us in the next half hour. right now, we have been talking about the u.k. overwhelmingly endorsing and embracing same-sex marriage yesterday showing the united states how we ought to do it. president obama yesterday talking about the sequester in the white house briefing room. >> i have big news a sad day for journalism. we took a hit. we found out dick morris will

not have his contract renewed by fox news. >> oh, no. the only reason i watch fox news is the most amoral man in american politics. >> you hated dick morris before it was cool to hate dick morris. >> i hated dick morris. a worthless human being. >> fox news decided not to renew his contract you will no longer see his pudgy face. a landslide for romney, for scott brown. wrong about everything. >> he refused to admit he was wrong. however, he has already booked his first post-fox appearance. >> who would have him on? >> current tv? >> no. no. we wouldn't. >> no. he is going to be on piers morgan tonight on cnn. >> oh, my god. >> two great things, dick morris

and piers morgan. >> they deserve each other. the sooner cnn fires piers morgan, the better. >> dick hadn't been on fox news since november 12th was the last time he was on. they had him on shortly after the election, and that was it. >> i mean the new head of cnn, geoff zucker ought to say get the worthless piece of crap off of the air. >> we will learn if he signs him up to be a contributor. that would be bad news, i think, for cnn. >> the end of cnn. all right. sorry about that. distraction here i want you to know that the president yesterday, i was at the briefing room. he came in and called on congress, reminded congress that the sequester, which would cut $500,000,000,000, cost over a

thousand jobs, that with this coming, the congress ought to at least if they can't fix the whole problem with the budget they ought to at least pass the short-term thing to avoid the sequester and keep the government running. and john boehner and house republicans immediately said, no. we are not going to do that. here we go again. the party of "no." opposing anything obama wants. >> this is "the bill press show." [ music ] right have, about the "heavy hand of government" ... i want to have that conversation. let's talk about it. really? you're going to lay people off because now the government is going to help you fund your healthcare. really? i want to have those conversations, not to be confrontational, but to understand what the other side is saying, and i'd like to arm our viewers with the ability to argue with their conservative uncle joe over the dinner table.

[ music ] >> chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is "the bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> here we go, 33 minutes after the hour. it is the full court press

coming to you live on our nation's capitol february 6th and brought to you today by the national education association, the good men and women of the nea under president dennis van roekel creating graduate public schools for every student in america, you bet. find out more about that their good work at their website nea.org. well, you often, as we are often asked: how do you get enough stuff to fill three hours every morning? so we always tell people well we have our sources. we have our friends who do all of the scouring, all of the scouting for us and then we just steel what they write about. one of the best is buzzfeed. buzzfeed.com editor-in-chief ben smith in studio with us. good to see you. >> nice to be down here. >> came down last night to conduct a lively interview with

senator marco rubio. is this a new face of the republican party? >> yeah. >> latino, young, hip. right? >> i mean i don't know how hip he is. but he was joking. he is 41. he was joking with the late senator to hawaii saying he will be the youngest guy of the senate in 30 years. how did it feel to interview someone who looks younger than you do? >> he is 41 and looks less. you know, it's interesting. he is very talented. he is very good. and what's interesting about him is there aren't that many that are great with a big stage and also in a small interview setting isn't just repeating talking points but can talk come across as a human being. he is good at that. the interesting thing about him culturally for me is he kind of grew up in the same -- with the same set of references that i did. we spent a lot of time talking about tupak shakir.

and he knows a lot more than i do. >> how about orrin hatch? i don't think he is either. >> orrin hatch, very very familiar with the pop culture of appear earlier generation. make mark yes rubio is this generation's orrin hatch. the other thing, he said a couple of times, i can't imagine being in thenate in 20 years. >> you talked a lot about immigration and he is the point man really on immigration. >> yes. >> more so i think than mccain and lindsey graham. two points, one is his insist he knew on boarder security border security. right in the ignoring the fact that a lot has been done on boarder security. >> i asked him about that. it's true. right? they talk, conservatives say the obama administration has failed. >> right. >> you look at the net inflow outflow of illegal immigrants is basically zero and the

deportations are at all all-time high. i asked him about that. what he said was -- i mean i think he is for the say the obama administration failed on this. he said it's bad for people who live down by the border, it doesn't feel so great. there is a sense among a lot of people working on the issue that border security is a bone they have to throw to the right but it's not a pressing an issue as it was when the economy was better and people were pouring in. >> bill: and on the president saying we have to include lgbt members as part of the 11 million, right? where is rubio on that? >> very much opposed -- he is opposed to it for reasons of process. he said basically anything other than the sort of core immigration story, is a land mine. you would have to bring the biggest coalition possible. what's interesting about these lgbt issues is that people are used to seeing them as a side issue, that we shouldn't get

distracted with. i think increasingly people see them as a central issue that has to be part of everything. you know where there has been a shift in the culture and this is the moment when it's tricky to navigate that and say this is a side we will deal with later >> bill: he said i hope that doesn't get in the way of getting a bill. why should it get in the way? because we are just talking about equal rights for all americans. sure but you know in the house, we are maybe talking about a few votes. >> that's his argument. the other thing he didn't quite say i think a lot of people involved in that are thinking is maybe the court will resolve this in june. you know, the supreme court is going to rule on the defense of marriage act. if they rule it's unconstitutional, gray couples get -- gay couples get treated same as straight couples. while there are lots of federal laws, inheritance is a big one,

there is nothing that matters as much as immigration. people are being kept in separate countries. in a way, for the people who it was, it's probably the biggest deal of any of the package of federal regs. >> one issue, another issue on which the senator stumbled a little bit is the issue of climate change. you asked him about that last night. has it evolved? >> i am not sure he stumbled. i think he was perfectly happy with his answer? >> really? >> he said he doesn't think -- he is not convinced -- he said what republicans used to say more four or five years ago. he doesn't think there is a scientific consensus, even if there was, america acting alone would sort of damage the american economy without making a real impact globally on the problem. >> any doubt he is going to run in 2016? >> that was actually the most interesting thing that he said to me which was he obviously thought about it a lot and didn't pretend he hadn't. he said, it's a process. it's not a decision you make. it's a long and gruesome

process. and everybody thinks about the glamor at the end but actually start out meeting the same 10 people over and over. he didn't sound like he loved the idea. he put together a team around him of people who are ready to go run a presidential campaign. >> if he does, he will have more time in the u.s. senate than barack obama had. >> he reminds me a lot of obama just in his profile in what people like about him and the sense that, you know his critics like obama dismissed him as a light-weight. >> that's sort of the least-cutting political attack ever. >> ben smith is in the studio with us, editor and chief in buzzfeed buzzfeed. join the conversation at any time. your thoughts about the young senator from florida. 866-55-press, or send your twitter comments to@bp show.com.

>> he did not drink a beer. i asked if he was comfortable having a beer but he said absolutely but i think he wasn't feeling like it. we had buds in front of us. >> on another issue, a lot of talk, i was at the whitehouse briefing yesterday where jay carney really got hammered with questions about this department of justice memo on drones. i guess is the obama administration trying to have it both ways? in other words, they say bush was wrong to use that authorization that congress gave him for torture and rendition. thank you. but it's okay for us to use that same authorization for killing american citizens overseas with drones with no trial, no due process. >> there is certainly moments in this administration, you know, if george bush had done this in the new york times or wherever

it was and just in general. >> bill: this is one of them. >> absolutely. there is a sense, i think, obama campaign, the lawyers around obama's campaign that returning to a much narrower constitutional view of executive power, particularly in matters of war and peace and also, you know turnchanging the culture of the office of legal counsel where this policy is made is going to be a real central priority. he brought on board some of the lawyers who had charted on that. some of them wert confirmed. this is one of the campaign promises he hasn't kept. >> the central question is in the department of justice, reaching for it here the 16-page white paper. it says the decision is made. right? the first thing, on foreign soil with full legal authority when the, quote, and informed high-level official of the u.s. government has determined that

he is a threat? >> pretty vague way. >> a vague way, belongs to an organization, and it's infeasible to capture them. but we don't know who is this informed high-level official? i mean is it the head of the cia? is it the defense secretary? is it the president? >> no. it's a memo that it makes it sound like a couple of dozen people could kill any american citizen really whenever they want like it. >> bill: right. right. right. something that liberals and progressives should be concerned about? >> something liberals and progressives have traditionally been concerned about. i think a lot of basically liberal politicians, obama, michael bloomberg basically are of the view that the americans don't care about civil liberties issue. there is a small vocal minority on the left who does but you can ignore them. >> what do republicans do with this issue? >> stand up and cheer.

>> because? >> he is continuing some of the bush administration policies. >> bill: i guess the point you are con filming what i think. it's going to be hard. some of them may. fox news was talking about the obama hypocracy. but it's hard for them to attack obama for using the same act and authorization that president bush used. right? >> i think so. certainly -- there was always a minority in the republican party who were very uncom40al with the way bush used this stuff. ron paul on the edge of it. >> right. >> there has been a more libertarian wing and a wing that was skeptical of executive pour in particular. so i think for some, you know for that part of the republican party, they have been consistently opposed. drones are becoming, if pulook to fox news and talk radio a little further out to the right, like they are getting paranoid about drones because they see like there is a sense on the right. i mean drones are the new black helicopters. >> bill: yeah. yeah. right. fair. they may be in pakistan today

but they will be here tomorrow. >> out to get he man. >> 866-55-press, ben smith from buzzfeed joining us, and you can join the conversation at any time at 8 situation66-55-press. >> this is the bill press shows. [ music ] party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

current tv, it's been all building up to this. >>bill shares his views, now it's your turn. >>i know you're going to want to weigh in on these issues.

>>connect with "full court press with bill press" at facebook.com/billpressshow and on twitter at bpshow. >>i believe people are hungry for it. [ music ] >> this is "the bill press show," rely on your radio and current tv >> bill: twelve minutes before the top of the hour here on the "full-court press," this wednesday morning, visiting with ben smith, editor-in-chief with buzzfeed in studio with us. back to our conversation. your calls in just a second. first, this story caught my eye. you know, identity theft is

something i was once the victim of. so i am always looking for these stories. this is about a man in ohio who received a call from a department store saying there was a lot of fraudulent activity on his account, and he said what account? i don't have an account with you. well, turns out he did. he also had several credit cards that he didn't even know about. thieves using his id and information to open those up in his name. hear a story like that reminds you, identity theft is real. it's everywhere and you should protect yourself against it. i have with what's called "lifelock ultimate the most comprehensive id theft protection ever made even includes monitoring your bank accounts for takeover fraud. lifelock can't protect you or your bank account if you are not a member. call now. if you ms press60, they will give you 60 risk-free days of lifelock ultimate identity theft protection. if you are not happen with that call lifelock again within another 60 days. they will give you a full refund. see lifelong and give them a

call. 1-800-5967. 1-800-356-5967 is the number. peter follows the social media for us here. >> yeah. >> bill: breaks news. >> one story we saw this morning was the postal service was going to make a huge announcement later on today. we found out what the announcement is going to be. >> going up to $0.46. >> they are going to stop delivering mail on saturdays. they will make the announcement later on today. this is something that has been thrown around for a long long time. they will make it official. they are going to stop delivering mail on saturdays. however, they will continue to deliver packages six days a week. they say overall this could save them 2$2,000,000,000. >> not a surprise. official today. no more mail ol saturdays. >> liberal attachment to the

postal something. like newspapers, the inherent value in destroying lots of trees and burning gasoline is nothing something you fully understand. >> i need my catalogues on the weekend, damn it. >> bill: i am a big post office supporter. i think their service is great. i use them a lot. overnight or whatever. they offer now as much as ups does. they didn't but they have caught up. right? but look. it's a tough world out there. they have to compete, and they are losing money now. also, it's a long story, but as we know, the congress really has prevented them from doing a lot of things they need to do. i want to ask you more about buzzfeed because you are a relative new player on the block but i think making a big impact what stuff do you cover? how can people find you? >> find us at buzzfeed.com. we cover really a broad array of

pop culture. we tougher tech. looking to hire a business editor right now but looking to compete with the great american news organizations if on a pretty broad spectrum. one story i was pleased with yesterday outside of politics was we had a pick you tour a set of images of beyonce during her super bowl performance and her publicist wrote to us and says images number 6, 12 and 17 are unflattering. i guess this is how celebrity comes up. we printed the e-mails that beyonce's publicist thinks are unflattering. truth to power. showings she is upset with us. bill on the political beat, does it look like we are going to be in the same soup all over again? i was there at the whitehouse yesterday when the president came in and said i'm sorry to hold up not really a competitor but "the hill," obama telling congress you have to do something about the sequester.

it's going to hit march 1st. and john boehner says, no, we are not interested in that. it looks like things haven't improved in terms of loggerhead or gridlock even after the november election. >> i think once you start backing off on these things, once you blink once it's harder to hold your ground the next time. >> good point? >> it seems to me the dynamic is is the republicans keep blinking and look for a way to delay this enough it's no longer -- this isn't the hill they want to die on. >> bill: they blinked twice. on the debt ceiling and they blinked again on the budget. and delaying the sequester. you are right. i think obama -- obama don't you get the sense obama feels that now? >> yeah. >> feels the power more? >> absolutely. >> or willing to use power more? >> and willing -- feels he can have, if they have an

apocolyptic showdown he will win it. they feel that, too. they don't emerge from the fights stronger. if, god forbid, they go over one of these cliffs it totally cleared whoever has the stronger hand amid the crisis. it becomes about what are we restoring? it's one that favors the democrats. >> ben, great to have you in the studio. thank so much. any time you come down to washington, you are welcome here here. >> thank you for having me on. >> bill: might get you on the phone from new york. we love people in the studios. come back and see us. buzz feed.com. i will tell you what the president is up to today. busy schedule. >> this is "the bill press show" live on your radio and current tv. [ music ]

(vo) current tv gets the converstion started next. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

[ music ] >> this is "the bill press show." >> bill: president obama, big day today. but most important news about the president's schedule is it was a announced yesterday at our briefing at the whitehouse, the president is going to take a spring trip to israel the west bank and to jordan. israeli newspapers are reporting that the president will be arriving on the 20th of march. the white house did not give any date. it just confirmed the president has agreed. that will be his first trip to israel as president. today, the president goes up to annapolis, the democratic senators having a retreat in annapolis. the president will join them and speak to, to what's called the democratic issues conference. he will been up there at 10:30 this morning and then back to

the white house about 1:00 o'clock. jay carney will be holding his daily briefing at 11:30. coming up, tim noah senior editor and juana summers with political proceed. the full court press. stay with us one more hour coming up. >> this is the bill press show.

[ music ] >> well, what do you say? it is wednesday, february 6th. great to see you today. welcome, welcome to the "full-court press." coming to you live on current

tv, all across this great land of ours, this beautiful wednesday morning, bringing you up to date on the news of the day and giving you a chance to sound off about it by giving us a call at 866-55-press. and yesterday, in the white house briefing room i was there, president obama coming in to call on congress to do something, take some action to avoid those massive across the board cuts to the pentagon that kick in march the 1st called the sequester. the president telling them if you can't pass a big bill to fix the whole problem, at least pass a little bill to delay the sequester for a few months t john boehner said no way. we are not interested in cooperativing. the party of no still at it. that and a lot more here in our last hour of the "full-court press," together this morning, but first, the current news

update in los angeles. hi, lisa. >> hey, bill. good morning, everyone. a gun bill with bi-partisan support could have a chance of making its way through congress. a group of lawmakers in the house is reintroducing legislation making firearm trafficking a federal crime. the bill would also strengthen the penalties for anyone buying a gun for someone else who was not allowed to own one. it's one of the few gun-related measures with support from both sides of the aisle. republican rep patrick meehan and scott rogell are co-response co-responsing the bill with carolyn maloney and elijah cummings. lawmakers say it would in no way hurt law abiding citizens and would not hinder second amendment rights. village voters could have a tougher time casting ballots next election thanks to a new measure, blocking certain forms of voter id. the state house and senate have just passed legislation

disallowing several different types of id utility bills bank statements, government checks and social security cards. voters would be allowed to use a driver's license, student id and a gun permit. florida governor rick scott is pressing a $100 million reelection campaign for 2014 likely against former governor charlie crist. this would make for the most expensive reelection in state history. more bill press is up next. stay with us. [ music ] compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current.

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press show." >> bill: president obama calling on congress to do something big or little to avoigt the secquestersequester. john boehner saying, we are not sure we want to do that. it is wednesday, wednesday, february 6th. this is the full court press. great to see you today. we are coming to you live from our nation's capitol in our studio here on capitol hill in washington, d.c. bringing you up to date on the news of the day from washington from away the country, from around the globe, giving you a chance to sound off about it as well at 866-55-press. >> that's our toll-free unusual. >> join the crowd. join the conversation. you can also follow us on twitter. i invite you to do so. give us your comments at bpshow or at facebook at facebook.com/bill press show. we have the team assembled today. peter ogburn and dan henning.

phil back from the stadium saluting the ravens, representing all of us and cyprian boulding has the video cam going this morning. he is our esteemed videographer and helping us sort through all of the issues of the day, senior editor for the new republic, tim noah, a good friend of the program. tim, nice to see i? >> nice to see you again. >> these arebi days in warrant and around the country. rick perry is sort of declared war on california he has said that businesses are better coming to texas, that it's a more business-friendly than calendar. my man, jerry brown, whom i worked with now is back as governor. he is trying to get me to come back. i said, no, jerry, i have moved on. i moved on.

so jerry, the reporters asked jerry about this rick perry commercial. right? trying to attract businesses to texas. reporters asked jerry about it yesterday. he said wasting your time. >> a serious story, guys. take a little radio ad and i know you guys run like lapdogs. it's not a beg your pardon a burp. >> only jerry could say that. >> that's not a burp. it's not even a fart. >> i never heard that. i am going to steal that. i am going to use that. >> i tell you, i have to say that the first jay brown would not have said that. >> something more eitherth etheral. lower his expectations time. lower your expectations.

he was running for president it then. he is a little more carefully planetary realism. i didn't know what that was. >> none of us did. he brought california back. from iou to aok. >> we have a lot to talk about with tim noah and juana summers from politico joining us. drones, budget. we will talk about it and get right to it. but. >> other headlines making news on this wednesday, as you head out the door a same-sex couple in or gone was denied a wedding cake by an anti-gay-marriage break re. they will get their cake.

abc news reporting that did you have goldman, the star of the show heard about the lesbian couple who were refused service and offered to bake the couple a free cake and deliver it himself, from his baltimore maryland cake shop. >> my god. >> he says, i want to give them a big hug and say congratulations. it involves cake. it involves love, marriage all things i am a big fan of. >> bill: i can't believe in portland, or gone that the bake rewould deny them a cake. >> the anti-gay owner owns the bakery called sweet cakes. >> sweet cakes? >> okay. >> living in the wrong town. >> another day another celebrity advocate on capitol hill comedian chris rock is in washington today to support president obama's gun control proposal. he is known to bring up the issue in his comedy ranges talking about bullet control. instead of gun control. >> exactly. >> he suggested bullets should cost $5,000 each.

>> they should be illegal. >> politico reports he is in town on behalf of the mayos against illegal guns. he will be joined by singer tony bennett, actress he was anna pete. >> tony bennett and chris rock talk about the generational gap. >> crus rock's testimony will be unpresentable. >> congressman joe courtney is calling out steven spielberg for a historical inaccuracy in lincoln. the democrat sent an letter. two vote to uphold slavery. courtney couldn't believe it when he saw it. so he went out went home did research and confirmed in fact that the entire delegation from connecticut at the time voted to

abolish slavery. he hopes the scene can somehow be correct before the movie goes to dvd. >> what do you do in a case like that? remaining lincoln? >> >> bill: shocking that spielberg could let a blunder like that? >> you would think he would check the facts on that. that puts it over the top. no best picture nomination. >> there it is. i i want to ask you first about the issue of drones. i was there at the briefing yesterday. jay carney really got hammered over this department of justice memo that says it is perfectly legal for the united states to

order the killing of american citizen overseas if they think he is a member of an al-qaeda group and a threat to the united states and its infeasible to capture him. here is jay carney's quick defense. >> we have acknowledged thet the united states that sthiemz we use remotely piloted aircraft to conduct strikes against terrorists in order to prevent attacks on the united states and to save american lives. we conduct those strikes because they are necessary to mitigate ongoing actual threats to stop plots, prevent future attacks and again save american lives. these strikes are legal. they are ethical and they are wise. >> bill: necessary, legal, ethical and wise. are they. >> there was an interesting story. >> in yemen. >> he was -- he agreed to meet

with a member of the taliban which was a very brave thing for him to do. al-qaeda. it was a brave thing for him to do. while they were meeting, they were voiprized by a drone. shocking story. a muss let me [delete]cleric on our side who had preached did the dangers of al-qaeda. and warning people not to be affiliated with them. he, himself, is blown away by a drone strike. >> one of the problems of remote control room warfare, you don't know exactly who you are killing. >> jay carney yesterday also made the point that, yes, we have the authorization, as does this -- the white paper, 16 pages, this authorization to

conduct drone strikes exists under the blanket authorization for the war on terror that was given george w. bush by the congress right after september 11th. >> uh-huh >> bill: it's the same authorization that was cited by george bush to justify rendition, torture waterboarding, and wiretapping. >> right and also done in great sec res see. people kept asking carney about that. carney kept saying, well, you know, the white paper is available on the web. it was leaked. >> it was not release by the white house? >> absolutely not. >>? a problem? the civil libtains say this is chilling. this is dangerous. i know ron wyden and some other senators have written a letter saying we want to see all of the memos. is this -- was this a problem for the obama administration? and how do republicans attack him for using the same authority george bush did? >> right.

it is a serious civil liberties issue, the killing of american citizens should obviously not be taken lightly. i wouldn't say that there should be no use of drones to take out al-qaeda leaders, but clearly, we are killing innocent people and that's unconscionable. >> we are going so without due process. you know, as americans we have a right to under the constitution and who decides which ones we take? the big question is -- and i was trying to get a question in but my question really is here is the one phrase in this whole memo, tim, that gets me is: who makes the decision? identified as quote, "an informed high-level official of the u.s. government"? who is that? >> we have no idea. >> bill: how high up the food chain does that decision go?

>> right. this is going to have implications for international law that we are not going to like. we need to be conducting this processes out in the open and, of course, when he was merely a senator, barack obama would have been fiercely against this. >> bill: indeed. this official could be high level, informed high level official could be the director of the cia. it could be the defense secretary. it could be the national security advisors or it could be just some low-level [delete]cleric clerk out in the -- mid level, let's saycleric clerk out in the -- mid level, let's say say? >> it's completely unaccountable. >> bill: on the issue -- that whole question of drones i think a very serious one and i am sure today's briefing is going to be no, ma'am -- dominated by that as well. the president, a couple of days ago, out in minneapolis on the issue of guns this with law

enforcement officials, looks like the president has this issue, he is running with it and he doesn't care whether politically it's an uphill battle or not. do you get that sense? >> yes, i do but i think he also -- he's also starting to realize he's going to have a problem with an assault weapons ban, which is very disappointing. it's got a problem with, you know, the senate majority leader on the assault weapons ban. this should be a no-brainer it seems to me. you know, the thing about -- i have an article coming out in the "republic" about gun culture. one of the things i observe is it's not a nice thing to say, but american gun culture has gotten significantly more pathological since the mid 1970s. the number of households with guns is fewer. the number of hunters is fewer and yet there are -- we have a

third to a half of the world's guns. there is a lot of stockpiling going on. our glimpses into gun culture are not reassuring. >> fewer people having more guns and with more paranoid justifications. it is at fact that someone who owns a gun is a criminal or a nut. >> bill: that's scary. this rush after newtown, connecticut, to go out and buy particularly an ar-15. the people doing so are not people buying their first gun. right? >> no. they aren't people who want to go out and hunt elk. >> or necessarily depend their families. >> these are people who in habit a small culture in our country. we need to remember that but a somewhat dangerous one >> bill: the nra membership is relatively small.

isn't it? >> i don't know what the -- >> they did brag about maybe 4 million. do you remember, peter? >> i don't know. we are talking about a culture that increasingly is representative, not representative of america and not representative of what we used to understand as the typical gun owner. >> bill: yeah. it's just amazing, the power that the nra still has. and so any likelihood -- there are some good signs. we will get back to that. this gun traffic calling bill introduced yesterday, bi-partisan, i think, is going to pass. that's a good step in the right direction. tim noah here, the senior editor for the new republic tnr. it's at -- you can follow tim on twitter @timothy noah1. tnr.com. we will be right back on the "full-court press." >> this is the full court press. "the bill press show," live on

your radio and on current tv. but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. converstion started next. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

[ music ] >> radio meets television "the bill press show," now on current tv. >> 26 minutes after the hour. tim noah from the new republic here in the studio with us. tim, a little breaking news. peter? are you going to bring us up to date? >> breaking news looks like president obama will nominate today as secretary of the interior sally juwell, the ceo

of the out door equipment store. she is a great -- it's a great store. >> the one in seattle probably like disney world. >> that's where they are based? >> yes. >> there is one not far from where i live actually. talking about drones, rick is calling from bowling green, ohio. rick, what do you say? what's your comment? >> hi, bill. basically what i am looking at is when you have people american citizens aiding and abetting a terrorist organization like al-qaeda, they put their lives in their own hands, and if they get wasted by drones, they made their positive

choice. >> do you think we should have to prove that in a court of law first. >> if they are there and they are aiding and abetting al-qaeda, i think they are convicted out of their own mouthed. >> rick, i want tim's response but i want you to hang o we are going to put you on hold because we have a special gift for you for giving us a call a $50 gift certificate for sher re's berries to use for this valentine's day. the rest of you, you heard me talk about shari's berries fantastic straw berries. berries.com and order your own from there. that argument, they are aiding and abetting the enemy, so go get them. >> what if they are not? what if we just think they are? you know, that's one of the main reasons why we have due process. >> you mean we might make a

mistake? >> we might kill the wrong guy. >> what? >> or woman. >> like so many people say, better than boots on the ground. yeah. as long as we get it right. we are out of time. tim noah thank you. >> congratulations on the now new republic? >> thank you. >> tnr.com. check it out. >> this is "the bill press show." armed with the facts, and the arguments to feel confident in their positions. i want them to have the data and i want them to have the passion. but it's also about telling them, you're put on this planet for something more. i want this show to have an impact beyond just informing. an impact that gets people to take action themselves. as a human being, that's really important. this is not just a spectator sport.

[ music ] >> chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is "the bill press show" live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: how about it? 33 minutes after the hour, the

full court press on a wednesday morning, february 6th. good to see you today. we are coming to you live from our nation's capitol brought to you today by ulico, incorporated under president ed smith proudly serving the union workplace for more than 85 years now, providing specialty insurance, risk solutions investment products and services. you can find out more about their good work and the services they provide at ulico.com. >> that's ullico.com. ullico, inc. solutions for the union workplace. the senate yet to vote on the designated chuck hagel and president warning that the defense department faces major major cuts and disruption if the sequester goes through as its scheduled to on march 1st. all big issues regarding the

pentagon and that's her beat her new beat at politico pro, juana summers in studio with us defense reporter now for politico pro coming off of the hot campaign trail where we often talk to you, juana. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> do you like your new beat? >> never a dull moment. i don't think i got a vacation in between the two. it's out of the frying pan into the fire. >> bill: you are right in the middle of the fire right now. let's start with chuck hagle. a couple of republicans now come out and said they are going to vote for him. john mccain saying he would oppose any filibuster on his confirmation vote. >> it seems michael. there aren't. lined see gram of south carolina has indicated he would like to see president obama nominate someone else and chuck hagel's name removed for contention but there is no one saying they are going to filibuster. it looks like it will go through. you have seen very powerful outside groups at play in the election weigh in heavily, spending half a million dollars

on nationally televised ads against chuck hagel's nomination but it doesn't look like there are big road blocks here. >> national televised ads against chuck hagel have no impact on the decision. >> their plan was to target democrats up for reelection in 2014, hope the pressure of the public to call their elected officials and get them to vote no on hagel. there are some folks like jim inhofe, the ranking member on the senate armed services, who will vote no. >> is itt doesn't have to be 100%. >> the bottom line is there aren't enough republicans out there saying no. and there aren't any democrats saying they are not going to back him in order to make the confirmation not a reality. >> it looks like -- tell me if i am wrong. it looks to me with john mccain like it's gotten personal. john mccain is trying to prove he was right about the surge. he was wrong about the surge. >> so uncomfortable. >> petty? >> the two of them. >> it got a little weird. >> it got weird.

>> it got weird. the bottom line is, a lot of people who have criticized john mccain said this was child issue. the senate should not have brought up the surge because that was years ago and that's not -- that decision haven't going to be before the next secretary of defense. we have new problems or new hot spots in the world. that's in the past. he should have left it there. >> that's what a lot of folks are saying about that weird exchange >> bill: to the extent that we know, what is chuck hagel's agenda as defense secretary, looking forward? not backward. you know, what kind of vision or priorities does he bring to the post? >> i can tell you one of the biggest things chuck hagel has talked about if you look back historically as far as back as 2008 when he wrote "cyber security," it's something that he and john kerry share. i expect that to be a huge priority going forward for him as well as looking at how to deal with hot spots such as north korea and iran which is obviously big issues on the global stage and things like

sayings on iran are some of the things he has gotten the biggest criticism from from his opponent. those will be big but the announcement president obama is going to head to israel, also policy there will be right in front of him. the biggest thing facing him is how to deal with the pentagon's budget when you the threat of sequestration or belt tightening across the entire building >> bill: president obama, i was there in the briefing room yesterday when he came out and said let's do whatever we can, calling on congress to do whatever it can, either full-bore or small-bore to avoid the sequestration. what would the sequestration, this $1.2 trillion across the board cuts which is left over from the debt ceiling negotiations a year and a half or a couple of years ago, half of those domestic cuts/across the board and halves defense programs, what would it mean to the defense budget or to the pentagon or to our active military today? >> if you listen to current

defense secretary leon panetta, sequestration would be cataclysmic for the pentagon. the pentagon would have very little jurisdiction, contractors in the industry. there would obviously be furloughs, lay-offs and very little ability to plan ahead for how to run their businesses particularly when we keep having these two-month delays. we dealt with this issue of sequestration right before the end of the year. now heading up to march 1st and we are dealing with it again. it leaves very little ability for the especially small contractors to plan. that said at a time republicans are saying that the president has not -- the president, senate democrats have not offered a real plan to fix sequestration which they say is something, a situation the president created and they think he needs to own up for it. republicans told us yesterday that they think his plan is a non-starter, it's not going to make it through congress. >> how can they -- the republicans have it both ways to claim that they are

pro-military, pro-transfers and say, well, we don't care. if the pentagon slashed $500,000,000,000, there is an inherent contradiction here unless i am missing something? >> it's a sticky situation particularly if you listened during the 2012 campaign, sequestration was the hot button. i remember mitt romney talking about president obama devastating defense cuts and now has the house budget chairman saying this is probably a thing that's going to happen. there is an inherent contradiction there. i think that republicans think and some have said this that by using sequestration as a bargaining chip, they will be able to get some of the other budget priorities priced that they want through the calls of congress. i don't think anybody thinks the sequestration is a good thing. i don't think anybody thinks across the board spending cuts to the pentagon with little jurisdiction as to how those cuts happen are a good thing. but this is politics. we don't have rachelle actors

here you know that better than anyone. >> no. no. well the first of the year on the fiscal cliff. on the deficit. then they caved, once they came back. right? on the budget and extended things again. isn't it likely no matter their bluff, they are going to cave on the sequester as well? >> we will see what happens. on top republicans are set to unveil their package with sec wrestration and they are likely to introduce a plan to pay for a year's worth of sequester cuts, a year reduction in the federal work force through attrition, not people losing their jobs but that's what they are set to

unveil. >> that's kelly ayott, the chair of the house armed services committee and reveal an alternate plan and say what president obama suggested is dead on arrival in the house, not going to make it through congress >> bill: but they will come up with their own plan? >> they will later this afternoon. >> juan aa summers reporter for politico pro the paid addition? >> we are behind the pay wall but i pop up on the main site to cause trouble. >> defense related issues chuck hagel's nomination sequester, 866-55-press, i want to ask you one question and come back more after we come back after the break. we have been talking a lot about drones this morning. now, drones are run, managed by the cia, some of them. there are also drones managed and run by the pentagon. correct? and who at the pentagon where

is this authority at the pentagon and who makes the decisions on how widespread do you know is the drone program run by the pentagon? >> i don't know necessarily the scope of the program, but i can tell you that in recent weeks, that's something that leon paneta as he is doing his final media tour ahead of likely being out of the pentgon, very shortly has been talking a lot about and he kind of said that drone warfare is likely to be a staple of the american military for quite some time looking forward. that was an interview about two weeks ago. the top guy at the pentagon spoken out about and said it will be part of the future the way america handles the military and he spoke to the program's success as well. >> bill: we have been talking. a lot about who makes this decision to go after an american citizen or non-american citizen. >> right. >> with drones. right now, there is a cia program and defense department program. why would you have two? as uncomfortable as i am with

drones, i am more comfortable having it run out of the pentagon anthan the cia, given the cia's history of asasssassinateing foreign leaders. it's a weird question about why we have two different drone operations. >> i am sure that's going to get a lot of attention at john brennan's confirmation hearing, heads the cia. i don't know they will talk about anything but >> bill: i am surprised. again, this is something john mccain should have been talking about instead of the freakin' surge. juana summers from politico. all things defense-related this half hour, 866-55-press. our toll-free number. join the conversation or join us on twitter @bpshow. >> heard around the country, and seen on current tv this is "the bill press show." just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

[ music ] >> this is "the bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> juana summers covers defense-related issues in the congress for politico pro. she is here in studio with us. you can follow her on twitter at jm summers, summers stipulate-u-m-m-e-r-s peter okaygburn follows social media fo fous. we have been talking drones and chuck hagel. >> we have some breaking news, hasbro has announced -- we reported on this for the past couple of weeks. they were getting rid of one of their monopoly togetherens and you can vote on which one would go away and which one would be the new one.

>> oh. >> the internet has spoken. >> we will say fair well to the iron. it will no longer be the iron as a game piece in monopbly. >> that was kind of dumb anyhow. >> i don't disagree. >> i had no problem with the iron. it was passe. >> why pick an iron when you could pick a scottish tear year. quell welcome in the new game piece, a cat. a little silver cat. >> come on. >> those bird-killing creatures? >> that's right. >> against cats this morning? >> bill: how many birds cats kill. a cat, a robot, a diamond ring a helicopter or a guitar. we chose a cat. >> i am glad that issue is behind us. now maybe we can solve the issue of same-sex marriage. >> back to drones.

taking comments on drones at bpshow.com. ron john says we knew bush was bad. obama still needs to exeranswer for exercising power to kill american citizens. danny says now we know children die from our drones. imagine if we learned some other country used drones against our kids. this isn't right. another tweeter says, on this story you told about the anti-al-qaeda cleric who was visited by al-qaeda -- >> reported by the "new york times." >> a cleric meeting with the taliban. >> that's the chance he took when he met with them like journalists that cover wars. >> all right then. >> bill: yeah. >> tes funny how there are these comparisons being drawn to work w. bush, during his presidency used justification and rhetoric to justify waterboarding and enhanced interrogation techniques. a lot of critics are making the same argument about what the

president is doing now in that memo, talking about the use of droughns >> bill: i was there yesterday. they site the same legal authorization that george bush used, the blanket authorization given him by congress right after september 11th, which he said authorized waterboarding, rendition, waterboarding, enhanced irtakegation whatever you want to call it and the wire wiretapping wiretapping. now, president obama saying i am using the same authority for ordering -- in ordering these drone strikes even against american citizens who are guaranteed by the constitution the right of due process. i want to come back to the sequestration argument for a second because i have heard some people make the case that the defense budget, let's face it, is -- that there is a silver line to go sequestration which is this. the defense budget is too big. there is a lot of waste. we know that. it's doubled, you know, in the last decade or so.

we've got to have cuts in defense. congress will never do it. and so this will force to cut some of the waste out of the pentagon that should have been cut anyway. >> that's a great point. i think it's important to know while the defense department in cutting the military has been like the sticking point in congress, nobody wants to do it but particularly the republicans who wants to say to the department of defense, it's not that way. it is no longer the sacred cow it used to be. how iranians are now more willing to entertain the idea for cuts for the pentagon. we are at kind of a post-war period, after a decade of war in afghanistan afghanistan. 2014, most of the troops will be home. the budget by those willing to be honest does not need to be as big. a lot of republicans have come around to that. what you don't want to see in terps of sequestration is these across the board cuts because it just is a very sudden hit to the department very little rationale when you are looking

at something like spending reductions. i think that's more of the issue cher as i do think there is a new willingness in congress to entertain the idea of cutting the defense department's budget >> bill: if you eliminate or end two wars, then clearly there ought to be some savings there. right? >> there should be a little money in the penny bank. there is cost and there will be a counter terrorism left over in afghanistan after 2014, obviously near costs but nowhere near what the country has been spending over the last decade in those two countries. >> bill: part of the silver lining to the drone program is that if we are not putting boots on the ground we are using drones instead, that's got to be a cost savings. >> i don't know about talking about silver linings with drones but probably a little less expensive than boots on the ground at any number of hot spots all over the world. >> bill: except maybe for the lawsuits we are going to have to fight but people can't sue the united states government anyhow.

so we are immune from that. when is the vote on hagel? is it scheduled? >> it's not scheduled yet. we have been hearing from carl levin perhaps tomorrow but there has not been a firm date put down. there is a hearing on benghazi tomorrow. lots of activity for those who hover around foreign affairs. >> still having hear on benghazi. >> i don't think john mccain and lindsey graham will allow us to stop having hearings. they said they won't vote on chuck hagel until leon panetta testifies on benghazi. >> juana summers at jmsummers. >> this is "the bill press show."

(vo) current tv gets the converstion started next. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. [ music ]

>> the part of ing shot with bill press this is "the bill press show". >> on this wednesday, february 6th, my parting shot for today, it was indeed uncomfortable at the press briefing yesterday as reporters pounded jay carney on this depart of justice memo saying it's legal to use drones to kill american citizens suspected of belonging to terrorist organizations overseas without any due process. carney insisted that such attacks were legal ethical and wise. now, look. clearly, in some cases, the limited use of drones is acceptable. it makes sense. but we have a right to know, as citizens, what are the guidelines for using drones? what are the limits on the administration's power to use them? and above all, who makes the